Consumers are continually demanding increased flexibility in viewing television and other forms of media. Whereas television viewing traditionally involved watching imagery received on a broadcast signal on a conventional television set, modern media experiences allow media content to be provided via broadcast, cable, satellite, portable media (e.g., DVD) and other sources. Further, the Internet and other relatively high-bandwidth networks now allow media content to be delivered to any number of devices (e.g., wireless phones, computers and the like) that previously were not typically used for viewing media content. Such networks have also allowed viewers to “place shift” their media experience from their home television or the like to a remotely-located television, computer, wireless telephone or other device. Consumers are therefore able to view television and other media content on a wide variety of devices and in a wide variety of locations.
In addition to the increased availability and flexibility in viewing media content, consumers have recently expressed significant interest in creating “clips” of media content that can be shared with others. Such clips may include relatively short excerpts of viewed media content in a digital or other format that may be distributed via the Internet or another channel; a number of Internet services for uploading and sharing media clips have become very popular in recent years. A challenge continues, however, in allowing users to create clips of popular media content while protecting the content owner's rights in the media.
As a result, it is desirable to create systems, methods and/or devices that are able to allow consumers to create clips of received media content and to share these clips in a manner that respects the rights of the content owner. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.